IN AMERICA TODAY, sports mean big money. Star athletes earn salaries well into the millions and professional sports teams are valued in the hundreds of millions. Product endorsements, in which athletes lend their names and faces to companies selling products ranging from shoes to soft drinks to cars, add millions more to the annual earnings of big-name athletes. The combined salary and endorsement earnings of basketball's Michael Jordan, for example, totaled $43.9 million in 1995, according to estimates by Forbes magazine. Boxer Mike Tyson earned $40 million in 1995, with just over half that amount coming from one fight that lasted eighty-nine seconds. Salary and endorsements put football's Deion Sanders, basketball's Shaquille O'Neal, and boxing's Riddick Bowe near the $20 million mark, followed closely by boxer George Foreman, golfer Jack Nicklaus, and tennis player Andre Agassi.

The big money doesn't all go to the athletes...